Montana Mountain Range Quiz

I imagine that growing up in New England, you learn the geography of the states. But here in Montana, things move a little slower...  And we learn the mountain ranges. Or try to.

I've been told that Montana's mountains are harder to identify by appearance (than other states' mountains) as they are packed together and layered on top of each other. For example, scanning the horizon from Twin Bridges, you might be seeing the Tobacco Roots, Gravellies, Snowcrests, Rubies, Tendoys, Beaverheads, Highlands and/or Pioneers. It's hard to know where one ends and another begins, or which range that is back over there. From Belgrade, we can see the Bridgers, Absarokas, Gallatins, Madisons, Tobacco Roots and Big Belts.

There is an app called Peak Finder that helps identify specific peaks, but you have to be pretty close for it to work well.

So how well do you know Montana's ranges? Quiz yourself based on the map below (link to answers is below). I'm still studying...

Click here for answers.

The Bison

We gone-done it. We bought a 25-year-old recreational vehicle that hemorrhaged water, has a hole in the driver's door, occasionally responds to the steering wheel, has a turning radius the size of a roundabout, and it's pocked with hail damage. And dammit, we're psyched. 

The Bison has a big ol' diesel engine, off-road tires, ground clearance and four-wheel drive. Its cooks, warms, cools, chills food, handles poo, showers us, provides drinking water, and rests us. It's bear safe, lightning safe, energy independent (soon) and the stereo jay-ums. And now that its problems have been remedied, it's where you'll find us.

We had a chance to try it out this past weekend and it was everything we'd hoped. A beautiful omen, in the form of a big-eyed, kype-jawed golden trout, gave us reassurance that we're moving in the right direction. 

Kudos to my wife Elizabeth for landing this incredible golden trout. 

Rambling soon, through public lands near you...